The S&S thoughts: Sincere and Silly. From the beaches of the Hawaiian shores to the Inland Empire of the Southern California landscape, to the high arches of St. Louis to the cultural history of Memphis, to where I call home now, this is my story, thoughts and hopes.

WoW TONO Thoughts

DEFINED ME ...

Some might say that I am off-the-wall, but I am right-on-the-shelf in the library under unique, Made-in-Hawaii, TONO.--July 2004

GOD'S WISDOM ...

I define true wisdom when God is magnified and glorified through His character. I am privileged to play a role with believers and stories where God and His Son is exalted! For God, be the praise and honor!--August 15, 2009

This turns out to be the #1 personal story of 2009, the pictures and the experience. It was a little more than a full week of FUN with my Sunshine. It might have been cloudy on certain days. But she was there to shine the light on the journey.

We thought we'd share the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. It was our third trip there. We circled the Mountains, and drove through part of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
I will work on the story ... the TONO thoughts later in the week ... in between work!

September 2012

September 14, 2012

When we do business with
a company and something goes wrong, it's easy to point out what they did do
wrong. I would like to share an experience that one representative did
right after another representative did wrong. For this representative,
it's something that should be celebrated.

I called the local store to place my wife's order for the an edible arrangement
for my wife. I was ordering it so that I can pick the arrangement and drop it
off at my wife's workplace. When I looked at the arrangement, I thought I
would modify the icing on the chocolate-covered strawberry because caramel is
what my wife loves. I wanted to see if instead of the white drizzle they
could have put caramel instead. When I asked the woman who answered the
phone, she told me "we don't have caramel, and no, we can't do it."
I suggested if I brought my own caramel drizzle can they put it on; she
said they can't do that either. She told me it's like at McDonald's; can you
add your own ingredients to a sandwich? She said that it's a policy that our
franchise right doesn’t allow them to put the caramel on.

I asked for another person to help me. When I asked for my second choice which
was a Disney princess arrangement, the guy told me that they didn't have the
container. Definitely, strike two on this company. Just out of curiosity,
I asked him how long would I have to place an order to ensure that you would
have the container. He told me a week. In the age of FedEx and UPS, I couldn't
believe it would take that long.

I saw another arrangement that I would have selected, but with the experience
that I had I didn't want to spend twice as much as the strawberry-covered
strawberries with the white drizzle on them. I wasn't going to reward the store
for not saying, "yes" to me.

I ended up getting the arrangement as it was presented on its website.

I decided to call the corporate number to see if they can create the
strawberries with caramel.

I finally got a lady on the phone, when she asked me, how are you doing? I
answered: I am very upset and disappointed. She quickly answer, which I didn't
expect: "I hope that I'm not in any trouble." I was about to chuckle
but I was still upset that I couldn't add the caramel on the strawberries.

She explained a lot better why I couldn't add the caramel to strawberries. She
told me that all the arrangements are copyrighted and because of the potential
health department violations if I brought my own caramel to add to the
strawberries. I understood much clearer how she explained why I couldn't add
the caramel.

It made my day when I think I made a comment about paying $3 dollars a
strawberry from Edible Arrangement. I could have saved myself a lot of money by
getting my own strawberries, chocolate sauce, caramel topping from Bi-Lo, go to
Macy's and get one of those high-nose serving platters and take care of it
getting what you wanted myself without spending as much money as I spent! We
were laughing hard.

Rarely do I have a great
CSR who knows how to disarm a difficult customer. But this lady, Kathy, handled
it really well.

I asked to talk with
her supervisor to let her know that she was an excellent CSR, and a valued
worker for Edible Arrangement. If I had a business on my own, I
would have hired Kathy to answer the phone.

September 04, 2012

I thought I would not
say this in this modern age; however, there is today and yesterday no wireless
data coverage south of Nags Head, North Carolina from Sprint. (For those
of you wondering my Sunshine has AT&T and she had on-and-off
coverage.) I know that some of you will suggest that I get another
wireless network, but because of my loyalty with the NASCAR Sprint Cup series,
I will stay with them until the 3rd rated company stops its sponsorship.

That means once again
today, I will not have any wireless data coverage because my Sunshine and I
will be out in Ocracoke island.

Yesterday, we hiked up
248 stairs in a half hour to get the view on top of Cape Hatterus lighthouse, the highest lighthouse in the USA!

September 02, 2012

Today, we had a late
start, because we thought we would rest and take it easy today after our drive
yesterday from home to the Outer Banks, NC.

We really didn't have
any plans to travel today. I thought since we are going to the Cape
Hatteras Lighthouse one day heading south, and other day headed to
the Currituck Beach Light Station north on another day, I thought it was
good to head west on the 158 and north on the 168. I was happy to do that
until I noticed a ferry to Knotts Island. I thought it would be a good
place to sightsee. I thought that we could fit everything that we wanted
to do for the rest of the day by visiting the island.

Looking back toward where we left ...

I didn't realize that
the ferry was going to take forty-five minutes one-way to reach one side of the
island to the other. We had about maximum three hours to head back to
have dinner, eat at the Black Pelican, and then, be back at 6:30pm (EST) to
watch the start of the race coverage from Atlanta.

When we left the ferry
and proceeded to consider what to do about our plans, we heard that the next
time the ferry would take our car back, it would be at 5pm. Obviously,
not even time to travel back, eat dinner and get back to the hotel at 6:30.

It's a good thing that
my Sunshine has a good memory as she read the description of Knotts Island.
She remembered that there was a road that would take us north to through
the state of Virginia and then back down south to North Carolina. It was
an hour and a half drive. That way, we'd get a chance to see the reason
why we took the ferry, and still make it back for me to watch the NASCAR Sprint
Cup race live!

We made it around on the
road, the one-and-a-half mile distance, instead of waiting for the
ferry.

Off to the north ... somewhere a two-lane road that took us back to where we came ...

It's too bad that there
isn't a job that would allow my Sunshine and I to travel all over the places
just to learn about different places with varied cultures and unique people.
I'm glad that I listened to my Sunshine and took the road and just didn't
make the U-turn on the road to the ferry and just got back on the ferry back to
where we boarded it the first time. I was happy to see more of the country
side!

It has happened many
times before: My Sunshine always has good ideas. This 2012 Outer Banks
vacation is just a slow-paced, Hawaiian-style time to relax. It has been,
and will be when I get back, I will be busy with work. The restaurant needs
some serious staffing and training opportunities. So I won't rush on
this vacation, and I'll find the time to relax.

As always, it was an
interesting drive to the Outer Banks yesterday. While I was driving, I
was actually perplexed at how often while on the freeways, some drivers stay in
the left/fast lane and park there as others try to go around them.

Just like from our trip
to Connecticut, I got fired as a navigator. We were east
of Sevierville when my wife and I were discussed where we eating for
lunch. Using my smartphone, I figured out and I said: Raleigh. That
was about six hours aways from where I was.

The good thing is that
we have arrived. We are going to enjoy the food around the area, take a
lot of pictures. I know a lot of you might think that we'd be going to
the beach to swim, but I don't think that the residents and tourist would like
to see my white legs!